


Devour

by paladzin



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Priest Erwin Smith, Purple Prose, Rating May Change, Vampire Erwin Smith, Vampire Hange Zoë, Vampire Hunter Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Vampire Hunters, light gore, vampire hunt mike
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:49:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paladzin/pseuds/paladzin
Summary: Erwin Smith is a vampire in hiding and playing ploy as a priest. His father's passing is caused by asking too many questions about the humans. Is there truly no middle ground for them to co-exist?  years of long waged war and finally they were moved into the shadows. Vampire hunters were born but this bloodline is most notorious for killing them off. The Ackermans, no one knows of when their origin began but they are praised by all, most of all by those who indulge in religion, they believe them to have God given strength all for sake of ridding humans of their vicious enemies : the vampires. Levi has been made for this, not once thinking much of it. It's just the way life is it. He returns to his hometown after years, only because of the news of a killing spree is causing havoc. While there, he decides to visit the church that he remembers being home while his mother still breathed.  He also sees a new priest is in charge. Not being religious himself, he still pay his respects to the man but he remembers Kenny's words. Keep your friends close and enemies closer. Priests have never been either but maybe it was time to get to know them. surely there is no harm in getting to know another so called man of God.
Relationships: Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith
Kudos: 9





	1. Amuse-Bouche

Wide eyes stare, pupils dilated **&** wanting to close. Save himself from the trauma that builds up inside him. a mere child to witness such **_cruelty_** delivered by their own kind. what kind of cruel irony is this? no. . . it's not irony's fault _it is his own_. atone for the sins that he has caused. What God can he pray to ** _?_** What God would bless a spawn of the devil himself _ **?**_ an echoing of broken bone breaking underneath skin, it rips it open, breaking free from it's home of holding a body together. agony resounds from blood stained lips and he hears them but nothing registers in a broken mind.   
  
_You know the law Smith!_  
  
the law. . . Vladimir's law. In no way are they ever to learn of their natural enemies. He has told them all they need to know. . . ~~no he has spoon feed them all~~. No one _dared_ questioned him in all his time ruling except for his father. His father who held a mind too grand for mere docile rule following. his father who dared to question : just who are the humans ** _?_** who are the people they bare their teeth at and hunt down for survival _ **?**_ Erwin always wondered. . . as did his father. Blood runs up into his nostrils and burns in the back of his throat. Their own blood always smelled so acidic. Eroding within him, betwixt his rib cage, he feels a phantom limb breaking at the strings. blood stained his cheek, the road that his father was knelt on. Grass so green becomes a beautiful crimson. as if even the earth they walk on was awaiting this. Another scream as another broken bone cracks in his leg but with less dignity as the one in his arm. It breaks through the veins **&** muscle tissue as it tears his flesh and protrudes outward. Bile is rising in his stomach but he holds it down. a mere child. . . witnessing such **cruel** fate. Perhaps his father was right. They thought of humans as their ending but this _ **?**_ his eyes move of their accord, looking at the those who are of kin take pleasure in ripping apart their own kind. this is just **sadism**. he hears it ever so faintly. a sharp sound of metal dragging on cobblestone. wooden stakes are mere child's play. They have evolved during their time in hiding, being able to still live while pierced with wood. however, this is not a wooden stake though. he turns, eyes wide as he sees light reflect of the arched edge. it is an axe and he knows what's coming. he doesn't notice the screams curling within his vocal cords, a plea of a child to not kill his father. They didn't mean to dig so deep, they didn't mean to question Vladimir. A futile struggle as they hold him in place, he is not strong enough. a memory that is now seared in his cortex. a careless mistake. . . he feels empty, so hollow and cold as he sees the swing of an axe and hears skin tear, hears blood gush from the injunction of his father's throat. it is a clean cut and he finally lurches forward. fallen on his knees as he stares at muscle tissue held within what's left of his father's neck. it pulses blood through his veins still & spills over the cut edges of skin, down his father's shoulders, chest, and drips onto the stone ground staining it red.  
  
_let this be a lesson boy. learn from your father's mistake._  
  
gasoline tinges the air ** &** fire crackles somewhere in the distant. he can smell rotten flesh burning.   
  
resurface . inhale while water stings / repair broken wings : become marble again .  winter has faded , Persephone has blessed thy grave . crusader birthed , war has become his vice / a home found in the tethers of broken rib bones  ** && ** shattered hearts . wrath has surged , sate the blood thirst . redemption seeking , it is now he finds reprise. The hums of a bell echo in the room as he stares at the ceiling. a palm pressed against his eye as his jaw clenches and he breathes. How was it before they needed sleep. Even if he didn't need sleep anymore. . . would this vision forever haunt him _ **?**_ taunting him and reminding him of what sins befall him _ **?**_ a deep breathe given to fill searing lungs, fill the empty hollow of his rib cage. He sits up and looks over out the window. it is early and he needs to prepare. Clatter of voices reach the window but they are muffled and mingled together as he shifts and stands. he stares down at withered palms, brow creasing as they pop up in his mind  
  
_how long will you play up this façade **?**_ Hange had once asked when he decided to tell them of his plan.  
_as long as I need too._  
  
they said nothing, didn't try to stop him merely hummed and smirked. **Knowledge was power** and it was dangerous but they harbored the same thirst for it just as he.  
  
he rubbed the back of his neck and stood in front of long length mirror. He wondered. . . what did he look like now _ **?**_ Age has surely caught up with him. he touches his face, feeling tethered skin beneath it before he laughs lightly to himself. Why would he ever want to know what a traitor looks like. he has planned this carefully, his mirror sits behind a changing room, should anyone walk in without knocking first, he merely only has to look over the top of it but they shouldn't approach him while he's behind the cover. He pulled on his attire that has been like a second skin for years now. Would his father approve his method _ **?**_ or would he have told him he was edging too close to the fire _ **?**_ he tucked in a white collar shirt into his pants, belt looping around his waist before it clicked into place. Black robes cover up his loose attire and he smooths it, make sure it is nearly perfection. the last bit of this person he has made himself become requires one more item. Luckily for him, no one would question his method of putting this on. After all, no one here seemed to questioned the priest. Where a single ruler lay rule over his own kind, it seems for humans : God is a saint. God is the beginning and the end. and him _ **?**_ he is a mere messenger of the divine, given the righteous stature and has been touched by angels. he side stepped from behind the changing room and went to his desk where _it_ lay on a cloth. carefully does he pull on black gloves and pick up the necklace. While most of the tales he has heard from humans about what keeps vampires away, this one had to be the most false. They use to believe this single piece of jewelry would end them, stop them dead in their tracks ; make them immobile. They weren't completely wrong. It only burns their skin if touched directly but otherwise it's nothing more than that : a piece of jewelry laced with hope to be a savior should the need arise. He lowers it over his head, careful to not touch any part of his ears or neck. With his collar still pulled up, he lets it fall around him. It feels like a death sentence, it's weight always seeming heavier with each passing day. He removed the gloves as a sigh left him. How long has he played the role of the priest now _ **?**_ It has to have been years. . . he can't bring himself to return home yet though. there's still so much to learn from them. This is most engagement he would get while also the best possible position he could be in. No one would ever suspect a priest. and no one has since he become one years ago. he grabbed the leather book that was written by their God and makes his way out the room and down the wooden stairs.  
  
  
**❛** it is almost time for morning service. **❜**  
  
he makes his way past a window, feeling heat against his forearm but there is no burning on his flesh. It's covered by the thick fabric of his attire and every morning he is grateful for it. He stares outside, watching the streets of the town slowly come alive. He always found it fascinating, the mundane way humans can function. They sleep, they return to their stalls selling various products, get into fights sometimes, they commit sins ( in their eyes ), and then confess to him. Saying _father please forgive me_. An odd choice of wording he thinks. calling priests fathers. . . when did this start _ **?**_ he still hasn't found the answer to that yet but he believes he will some day. Blue irises take in the forms of them all crowding now, the way their feet and soles of shoes sound against pavement. _Ah. . . I shouldn't linger._ there was something that has been tearing at him for some time. a feeling he didn't ever wish to spark a fire in. it was an ugly thing to him, one that may cause him to turn on the very beings he wanted to know so much about. his own shoes click against the flooring as he walks down the pew. He stares at the carefully crafted marble that hangs so high on the stone wall. Their God. a man that was nailed to wood and sacrificed for the greater good. This is their God _ **?**_ he always find a sick irony in that. he steps up the podium and lays the leather book on the wood, opening it and carefully turning the thin worn pages. This bible has been passed down from priest to priest. It hasn't ever once been replaced and he wonders why they do that too. He wonders. . . if he was ever found out. . . would they burn this bible that his poisonous hands had touched for years _ **?**_ would they assume he had left the Devil's mark on it _ **?**_ his thoughts are stopped by the sounds of creaking from the door way and he sees them all file in. He recognizes some of their faces. Old woman Jo-Ann. She's been coming to this church for as long as he's been here but maybe even longer given her frail state. Dr. Jaeger and his wife whose belly was full of life. A curious couple, not ones to who attended too much but sometimes they indulged. Although. . . he always had a weird feeling when they did. A mass of faces blurred together as they all nodded at him, smiling at him.  
  
_would you still smile at me if you knew?_  
  
it isn't until he is about to start he sees the doors opening again and closing. he feels that phantom limb beat against his ribs as he takes in the last man who walked in. That man doesn't make a move to sit in the empty isle, he stays by the door, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest. He recognizes those straps that bind against his thighs, the vast long silver bullets that hold against the outside of them. he doesn't have to hear someone say it to know what that man was. His mind is turning so quickly in that vast moment. Why was one of them here _ **?**_ and why now _ **?**_ he hasn't done anything, and as far as he knew, none of his kind were present in this area. unless. . . unless he has been so deep in his own façade that he never noticed. those grey undertone eyes are so sharp, he feels like the silver in them would **burn** him where he stood. He makes no note to show his nerves, masking them perfectly as he done for years. he instead decides to jump right into his enemies hand. he closes the bible, side stepping to stand by the podium. It is only natural after all to do so, in his years and from memory of past priests should anyone from that bloodline show up, treat them as if they were God himself. he offers a warm smile as he holds his hand out.  
  
**❛** And to what do we owe the pleasure of one God's saints appearing before us _ **?**_ **❜**


	2. Apéritif

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> slow burn meeting of Levi & Erwin.

***a few hours before***

blood boom and carving into dirt. spill and seep into every crevice **&** remind them of the foe : charmed with seductive nothing , ever - deception , say  ** : ** a maggot to the rotten meat and fresh organs that liter the ground. an enemy forged from blackened ash **&** say : **they exist only for endings**. here lies a heart imprinted on her sleeve, **(** i beg of you, let me become a saint with a scythe / murder, a weapon just as he. **)** flame enraged **& ** building acid in her body. unmake her **&** unravel as eyes cause damage. it is here it begins : a plea, **begging** for mercy, begging for help but a wolf in disguise as a sheep. as a helpless person who made their way with blood spilling behind them. a sickening smile as they have marked their prey and blood spilled 'pon their skin, splattering against the fangs, against dirtied nails crusted with dead skin cells. an echo of terror, rippling effect as one by one, they are all ripped apart. flesh tearing forearms, muscle peeling from bone marrow and hitting the ground with no meaning. this is a battlefield she in **& ** where she came out as not the victor but a **victim.** left alone to her own carnage rot. **(** i beg of you, let me become destructive. **)** pleas fall to no one, there is no God except one that damned them fighting for their very souls, the very will to live. a saint Levi was unlike she, a saint given his soul and yet this is the reprise he gains _ **?**_ what utterly mockery. askew perceptions of what religion does, what good is prayer when it becomes for not _ **?**_ what good is the time spent reading fragile pages written by a dead man _ **?**_ breathing becomes vines ~~digging no~~ dragging her to her knees. sticky becomes her skin as she kneels, grabbing the fallen Priests' hand that reaches in desperation. **(** i cannot save you. i can only cause convulsion **)** a whispered prayer of invocation : deliver this message, seek out the one who is forged from ivory and steel. _Levi. . ._ trust that was built leaving to her defend this town seems to crumble along with the man that loosens his grip. last breathe of life is fleeting, he was a good man. she can only hope for his sake, he is granted to thrive in the place where these demons do not.   
Faster, skin burning from the cool air that whips against it. Petra is all but lost as she rides to the next town. / i. little girl lost , fight to live. ii. it is kill or be killed. whom to trust when deceit is so falsely given as a security _ **?**_ / a crack in her cortex, fragmented mind as horrors reply but this her choice. She cannot turn a blind eye to the images of carnage, the images of flies swamping the open bellies of exposed tissue & muscle. she can't ignore the sounds of beaks picking apart their food. **(** prey tell : since when have they fallen so low on the food chain that even birds become their hunters _ **?**_ **)** tears for the fallen cast streaks down a dirty face. tears falling for the strength that left her, **exposed** her. Petra did what she could, the smell of powdered guns lingering in her nose. wormwood solider, this battle was long lost the second she chose to relax. hadn't he taught her better _ **?**_ there : another town, wooden gates giving them same hope she had just given up. **❛** I need to deliver this. **❜** said like a whore who was about to reach climax, said like a priest who knew he was dying. time is relative but ticking so loudly within her. where are they headed next _ **?**_ where will their nails **&** teeth sink into next and bleed dry _ **?**_ Petra finds him as she made her way to a rundown tavern. So similar to the one that now lay in ruins just as she. saint is all but a misgiven title for what they were, no. **for what she was**. a girl playing pretend _ **?**_ no, she just wasn't ready. parents dead as a young child, those same vicious fangs had seeped into their veins ** &** left them dry, left them empty carcasses. though she was full of life, she left the same ever since that day. nothing but an empty carcass that slowly became hardened, **❛** Levi. **❜** a single name said in emotions that peeled from her insides. **(** please, who ever is listening : i am lost **)** she handed over the letter, body now breaking within the confines of the wood chair where she sat next he made of stone. does death no longer cause craters within his ribcage _ **?**_  
  
  
  
**re** : train who all wish to dance with death **&** tempt fate. / i will hand you the bullet. i will help you with tools for survival. but your life is your own. / **i exist for only endings of demons**. perishable body he may be, but he is not yet done. Her demeanor all but too familiar before him. Body has been made a ruin, what little composure she had left starts to crack and crumble. dirt mingled with blood : a kiss forged from loss, from seeing far too much. She is younger than he, perhaps his hast to build their numbers had been the wrong move. No more words leave cracked stained lips. a secret held within the confines of her skeleton. a secret that he knows all to well. death has shown **destruction** and no mercy for her, no remorse for the remains of mattered bodies that littered the town she had been in charge of. a first time on her own, reigns completely free. he should have warned her **(** murderer of the innocence there is no light left in demons. **)** unpluck a wilting flower that was her, given a new steam and sunlight. rebuilt under his say and molded her to be similar. they can't be similar. his blood runs with silver bullets unlike her. unlike her who is no longer than flower in pale spring. her who was trampled now. regret is fickle, remorse is no kinder. a plague erupts within : what if's are their downfall. second judgement cannot become them. they can only live here, grounded. **❛** You did what you could. **❜** simplistic, a sense of calming. Is that not all they ever do _ **?**_ as they evolve so does the trees. so does the earth they walk among. as a bird grows so does their enemy. bright summer light that use to cause death in seconds now seems to made of moonlight. no longer will that end them, only severely cause flesh to melt into bone. a silence befalls them, he pays no mind to the eyes lingering on the pair. blood stained as she is, she is not an enemy. She carries the blood of those who lost a battle just mere moments ago. here lies quicksand, a **suffocation** forming around her throat but he doesn't help her with words. whatever emotion she has, she is free to feel. no all battles will be won, this is just the price of being swords. who is he to stop her from feeling _ **?**_ his own chest breaks for her, breaks for the screams that echo in his mind. he wasn't there to help so the blame is carried between the two. whispered from a broken frame : _**did i.**_   
**(** i am sorry for plucking you too soon. say : i instructed you to fight 'til death comes. become the same nuclear vise as I. **)** misery adores company, a home found right at the center of her core. he has carved himself within her. **❛** You can't see it but you did. **❜** false pretense. he hates being solid. he doesn't know what choices were right or wrong in the end, experience is different from eye to eye. **❛** Their planning to be the death of us one way or another. **❜** vampires kept at bay by bullet, by them who are brave enough to fight. disease kept at bay by medicine, by the few who studied plants ** & ** studied the evolving earth around them. yet now it seemed they were ridding of their saviors of disease. ridding them of what keeps their immunity and health secure. vampires be damned back to the hell they crawled out of. he has wonder : why doctors _ **?**_ why kill only them and their families _ **?**_ and then in turn, to destroy a whole town. a distant memory playing 'pon his brain. a town that held his birth, a woman who sung sweet lullabies **&** lured death to take her. a man who called himself of no relation but built him from the ground back up. a place where he use to be so ignorant to the real world surrounding him : **home**. what years have done to him, would he be recognized as harden as he become _ **?**_ **❛** Take a shower, you smell. You can have my room and stay here with Mike. **❜** a voice sounding so strong, it leaves no room for debate. this war was now growing more personal to the little heart strings he had left. what protection can he offer besides returning to the place he once called home. a runaway, a stupid child who didn't wish to live without the warmth of said mother. he was told of whom he was, what he was born to truly do. praise given like he was the one nailed to cross. **(** they sung : O praise be to him _ **!**_ O savior please , with scythe from a cradle become our vice and virtue **)** a false god, where was his redemption _ **?**_ where was his own safety _ **?**_ no, he doesn't get one. he can only be the lock ** &** key of saving them all from extinction.

***  
  
time does wonders, even with so much decimation the world doesn't stop. the sun still sets, still rises along the horizon as the moon bids them a fair well to start a new day. time seemed to evade his home town save for the people that were now gone and buried in the earth. he can only hope for a peaceful death and not one that tore flesh from their bodies while they still held air in their lungs. same merchant tents now taken over by sons or daughters. same path way that looked as worn as some of the buildings. vines snaked their way up the sides, ivy causing him to see that time has taken this town but _he_ is the different one. what little child ran so far away only came back full circle. but those eyes were stormed by blood, by maggots on rind eating away at him. he was different, surely he was different. years spent hunting down vampires, years spent trying to get more information out of the vampires, what does he have to show for it _ **?**_ a scrape of paper that was weighed by blood stains, by dirt and ink. it weighed against him in his pocket as he went along the path with his horse. he was different but his horse was a constant. a long term friendship that he valued so much. a hoof pressing into the dirt at the crossroads. a silent decide : will he dare walk into the very chapel that stands before him _ **?** _what memories will rush into a broken mind that have been confined to those walls _ **?**_ **(** for he is returning with an open - heart surgery, violence sewn into his veins and knotted at the bone morrow. O praise be to he. **)** the doors feel so much heavier as he makes his way inside alone. he wished for a moment to have his horse with him but he be damned to be so weak. unmake whatever crystal congealed 'pon skin, he is left at a riverbed, rushing waters of emotions cascading into his frontal lobe.   
the walls inside are the same, as cold as ever. such a holy place marked with blood in the corner, marked with screams as he tore through his mother from his home in her womb. marked with keeping them both as fed as possible. **it wasn't enough.** her body became no longer her own, touched with greed **&** lust. her body became home to countless men, women, it didn't matter. those who sought out refuge between her legs were welcome if it meant keeping her boy alive. he can smell of rot of bodily fluids, smell her sweat and her vomit. **(** when did he become this : hide behind a veil. do not trust. **)** what little words where being spoken fall silent as he walks in and leans against the wall. a defense pre-built as arms fold over his chest and a stoic look overcomes him. while this place was a brief home, he **hated** it. **(** a sinner you are _ **!**_ look at the crimson that stains your hands _ **!**_ can you hear their screams _ **?**_ you let them **die** , their bony fingers should choke you where you stand _ **!**_ **)** guilt becomes he : always in a place meant to be home. he wishes to be carved into the very wall he leans on but his composure remains solid just as it does. he doesn't get the privilege to linger in the past , doesn't get the choice to build himself. There is it again. . . _Saint_. **(** prey tell me marker whose veins run thick with silver : are you here to be a single crusader _ **?**_ are you here as a warning _ **?**_ **)** : i erupt ** &** leak, hand me the scalpel **&** I will cut through flames. / **❛** don't think I need to say. Do you _ **?**_ **❜**  
  
**what an asshole.** mocking him with a nickname that he wishes would vanish just as vampires do when shot. Priests are neither friend nor foe, they always teetered between a odd line. Friend to them when coinvent, saving their own skin to ensure the holy word still spreads like a plague. Foe when _ **?**_ when do they wish to meet their demise _ **?** _ he has known few who have questioned : they look like us, why condemn them _ **?**_ send the ones who have sinned to them, they can feast on a sinner. backwards ass thinking he always thought. no human deserved to be torn into like that. He wonders : which side does this Priest fall on _ **?** _does he believe they shouldn't condemn the vermin that runs rampant _ **?** _or does he wish to feed them so called sinners for seeking to get pleasure _ **?**_ money has to be made somehow, if they wish to sell whatever they had, he didn't see it as a cause for tossing them to a devil. **❛** I suppose you don't. It's rare we see one of your _kind_ here. Would you like to join us in prayer _ **?**_ **❜** a challenge : accept it or cause chaos. This Priest. . . trained for what _ **?** _a game has been set, their pieces have begun to move. **Never** has he been called to sit in prayer to a God who has damned them. **Never** has he truly prayed either. **(** understand that i am a knife forged from the screams that echo from distant pasts. I am antimatter. I am an ending. / re : there is no prayer for a man soaked in blood that belongs to both sides. **)**   
His answer can be this : a no, causing those wild eyes of the mass to wonder why he said no. why a man born from God's balls as they believed to be to say no to prayer. or he says yes and sins anyways. **a sinner will always sin** , redemption can come later. a mask worn so well, they don't seem to recognize him. his name hidden under wraps for now, he won't ask the Priest his name first nor does he hope the other will ask for his among the pew. Slowly does his body move, engaging in flight or fight. when was the last he was on his knees _ **?**_ no. . that'd be too careless, it'd be a cause for letting an unknown enemy have the upper hand. Instead he chose to sit, elbows propped on knees, palms pressed, **❛** Delighted too. **❜** **(** say false God / say : i was born from a womb cratered with violence long before the barrel was in my hand. **)** What deceptive words fell from the holy man's lips become white noise. He has no need to pay mind whatever lies pour from him. Religion was, in his eyes, a tool of control. This is why they are feared by both monster **&** man. His bloodline cannot be tamed. cannot be forgiven only forsaken. A vision brought back by a hand on his shoulder, gaze shifting with a burning glare he hoped to see skin catch fire. **❛** Most of all let us pray and give thanks to the Lord for the birth of these trusted vampire hunters. who without them, none of us would be standing here today. **❜**  
  
  
how temptation brings undoing. he, a savior _ **?**_ since when _ **?**_ what twisted images they hold of him within their very cells. This Priest. . . his words burrow somewhere deep betwixt Levi's ribcage. he is not a patron of the saints, he is death embodied, personified. brutality is the only hymn he needs sung. Grey undertone irises stay on the Priest as that bastard gives him a smile full of false security. He knows better than to leave the building as much as he yearns too, knows that while priests cower in the safety of this temple garden of rot, they are also burdened with passing on any valuable information. Priests may found home within a bible written by an entity that no longer walks this earth but outside of those thin frail pages, monsters lurked in the shadows. monsters that they had the privilege of also keeping tabs on. **(** tell me, O man of God that walks away : is there any redemption of a bloodline tainted so long ago. **)**


	3. Entrée

what is a guard dog seeking refuge in their town _ **?**_ first show of teeth bared from a vulgar tongue. tone is set, let the dance of death begin. a challenge, so subtly hidden beneath his words. a simple request : kneel like a **commoner** and pray for your sins to be cleansed dear hunter. wash the filth from under your nailbeds, scrub that tainted skin clean. Erwin sees him not as an enemy but a chance encounter. a first meeting, a first introduction to what beast they both are. phantom limb flutters under a dead ribcage , become a husk of the hunter that only knows gore **&** vengeance, become a simple townsfolk. Hypocrisy becomes Erwin, a silent challenge for this hunter to become a _peasant_ , just another face among the pew. a call to drop this façade, to show he too still seeks redemption : but what about himself _ **?**_ a sacrilege he is. a ploy of an empty shell, driven by a thirst that was never sated. **(** beast in the night, tell me this : what will ever quench a throat so dry **&** a mind so eager for the forbidden fruit **)** laced with pleasantry he awaits the hunter's choice. to call he, a human, a hunter _ **?**_ it is **disgraceful** , utterly laughable. they are as veracious as the same beasts they hunt. He's never met one such at this hunter. this one lingers in those shadows that bait him with promises of freeing all humanity from the darkness. it is enticing, calling this hunter to always be alert. News travels fast among the townspeople, tales of tall creatures sneaking in under false pretense, a lick of malice hanging between those pleas for help. Erwin knows why the other has shown himself, there has been massacre's littering the streets. Blood has splattered among the neighbors, over flowing and leaving a trail in it's wake. Still, he cannot abandon his carefully crafted persona : a Priest doesn't run when his people need him the most. How he has longed to see the very humans who hold God's gift, and now here : a birth right man who has ammunition sewn into every fiber of his being. **(** tell me patron of saints : what secrets does your body hold homage too _**?**_ what craft does your blood contain that makes you so dangerous _**?**_ **)**   
**❛** Thank you for joining us. **❜** He can feel how muscles tense, a similar junction sparking in himself. it is the fight or flight response that all are capable if broken down to their very core : if they reduce themselves to **animalistic** behavior. are they really no better than other animals _ **?**_ a shrug, Erwin removed his hand from the other's shoulder. to touch a hunter, how **personal.** but this was personal was it not _ **?** _ a marked man ready to kill any vampire in his way and a vampire ready to die for the single obsession of wanting knowledge. His mind filters to Hange momentarily , when did they both become immersed in this thirst _ **?**_ Time slips away, given show by the rays of the sunlight. a silent blessing dressed in black robes, Erwin's skin would otherwise be ash, holed **&** crater sore. A silent glare from the huntsman, those silver tones echo the bullet attached to his outer thighs. he wonders : does the sting echo the color as well _ **?**_ evolution only carried them so far, those bullets have become his demise but they are also not friend to humans. it is a catalyst for both species. His voice seems foreign to his own ears, echoing along the walls where marble hangs over them. watching with carefully crafted eyes **(** i. prey tell me, speech rendered statue , does it bother you that a fiend has snaked it's way into a holy sanctum _ **?**_ is this why the huntsman has appeared now _ **?**_ to give the right of passage to actual follower of God and not a pretender ** _?_ )** Hymns are sung for the God who cleansed them of all their past and present sins, sung for the glory and worship of the deceased. **(** O praise to be the one who felt _agony_ in their palms, to the one who had iron burn skin and tear through flesh, please forgive the unwanted **)** a sweet lullaby for the forgotten, whose bones are lost among the dirt, he can only imagine it is a maggots feast in the next town over. he wonders as he gazes at the hunter in the back : what images burn into the core of those cold silver eyes _ **?**_ what plagues that mind _**?** _what did he witness in the next town over _**?**_ most important : he can **smell** it. it hangs in the air like the smell of sweet honey. caked and matted with malice. it is sickening how he yearns to taste that death on his tongue. blood is somewhere on that man, but maybe it's a figment of his imagination. after all, aren't all hunters covered in blood constantly _ **?**_ no matter how many times they wish to wash away the red stains, it will forever follow them, forever be embedded within their very soul.  
  
pleasantries have yet to bore him. Smile as plastic as his façade, would they touch him if they knew _ **?**_ shake hands with the fragile, shake hands with the broken whom leave the morning mass in tears. intoxicating their behavior is : will they always weep when it's uncalled for _ **?**_ what does the release feel like _ **?**_ **(** i. when the last this hellion shed sea salt **_?_ ) **he doesn't nor wouldn't ever know. silence becomes them both, a single stand off, who will call checkmate first _ **?**_ a vampire or a hunter _ **?**_ charmed as a devil with an alluring smile to match, **(** come said the spider to the fly, I will not harm you ~~it lied~~ **)** entice the weak, but this hunter is not weak. No, he was bred from ashes **&** reborn like a phoenix. while he _ **?**_ he is born from rot **&** decay. a broken system under rule of he : Vladimir the terror, the one whom impales and feasts while air still fills humans fragile lungs. those screams will never leave Erwin's cortex. a charmed hell hound : it is he makes the first move. **❛** How did you **❜** his own voice overpowered, cut short by the crass nature of the huntsman who stands at the door still. Out in the open _ **?**_ ah, he sees. a rat trapped is not a good rat, scurrying and clinging to whatever threads are left dangling. he's not a trapped rat yet, this hunter knows better than be trapped. But this a holy ground, he wouldn't dare spill blood on the chapel cobblestone. **❛** You know why I showed up. You can't be that dense even for a Priest. **❜** accusatory, playful ; **(** be careful little mouse, the cat doesn't always sleep long. **)**   
a chuckle that's as hollow as his ribcage, foot steps echo along the chapel floor as he leaves the door. If they were talk about death, let them do so behind closed doors. Townspeople were sneaky but he was aware they would attempt to listen. might as well not cause a mob. **❛** My apologizes. I suppose it'd be best to keep the ignorant just that. As they say, ignorance is bliss. **❜** never, say : he knew why he was there, those bullets that shine seem to already burrow deep inside his organs. prey tell : how would he react to being this close to a monster with dirty paws **&** fangs _ **?**_ peel back that stoic mask, let him marvel at the chaos his kind has wrought. hunter : do you know where you truly belong _ **?**_ cast from his own kind from being too curious, thoughts being shut down and his silence was held forever. A good start on building up a persona, he was already acting at such a young age.   
  
**❛** what kind Priest keeps secrets. isn't that against your moral code, _father **?**_ **❜** purred like lust itself ; cater to the temptation, if they were going to play this game of who was called a saint, Levi might as carry it on. Father. . . such a odd word formed on Levi's tongue. Never has it left him, even when dealing with other Priests. _**Father**_. . . n. caregiver : Erwin is not a father figure in the least. as black as his robes, his morals are askew. what perceptions he holds are larva squirming. **(** rotten apple in the core, pristine on the outside. a take the forbidden fruit of adam **&** eve / strip the outer layer and dine on corrosion. **)** a murder made he just from the womb, two sides of the same coin. Erwin sits along the bench, another hallow laughter that was masked to sound delightful. This hunter misses nothing does he _ **?**_ . . . does he _ **?**_ A well trained vampire, disguised as a mere human. hiding in plain sight and here sits a man whose suppose to be able to just sniff them out. yet here they were : two sharing a civil tone. could they not enjoy such warmth under normal circumstances _ **?**_   
**❛** As sharp as ever, you're correct. My duty comes first to always tell the truth but as you said, if I know why you have come. then surely they must know too. Please, you can call me Erwin if you'd like. I'm sure we'll be spending some time together mr. **_?_ ❜** an invitation. _accept it,_ Erwin thinks, _you're already in the devil's den._ **(** understand that i am a black hole ; i do not wish to stay confined but I wish to bury under your skin and make a home in those veins. **)** creased brow on ivory skin, Levi _almost_ laughs at the audacity of the formalities. Do all Priests have this ones humor _ **?**_ First name basis, his own name a secret kept for security. erosion bubbling at his core, **(** i. remember this Levi : **everyone has a secret. )** a fire brewing, he can't deny there's _something_ , instinct giving a warning **&** gnawing his insides. **❛** Levi. Just, Levi. **❜** ancient texts on families exist but Levi is not a name that stirs anything in Erwin. no frontal warnings to run as he should have. a bloodline only with the name of Ackerman. he didn't offer his last name, a missed opportunity for now. He'll figure out his last name eventually, a look of familiarity crossed several of the mass when Levi first entered. Erwin was about to breech the subject but blood seeped pages were presented before him, matted with dirt **&** sweat. what a weak man Erwin was. a vampire seeking to want to run his tongue along caked blood in a poor attempt to lap at whatever food he can manage. He keeps his fill, keep his hunger sated at best but sometimes, he yearns something that has been aged like finest wine. **(** hunter, how do you taste ** _?_ )** Sweet smelling iron hangs in his nostrils but he remains composed. whatever cracks are echoing on his mask, he must hold it together. he starts to wonder now : **who was the real one who walked in the devil's den?**


	4. Trou Normand

a kingdom slit at the throat , a leader prized with a tarnish crown that is rusted copper. remember words written of their enemy : Ackermans are a parasite born from **ivory & silver**. the deadliest ivy in the garden of their wilting flowers ; flesh carved from violence. Though they are the core of their corpses, all hunters were equally as _dangerous_. Fragile papers of a letter handed to him feel so worn, though scrutiny weaves a web inside his mind. Was this a test _ **?**_ why carry something covered in blood and stained with decay _ **?** _he has to wonder : how did a hunter with a human core think _ **?**_ **(** lure out the beast, be careful what you drag from hell dear hunter. **) ❛** What's this ** _?_ ❜ ** a rhetoric, he knows it's a letter but the importance is missed. Information passed between Priests and hunters was not uncommon but he didn't know what this letter held. a secret _ **?**_ was it going to be his undoing _ **?**_ **( i.** recall testimonies, **ii.** recall what it means to be the one trapped in teeth. swallowed by God : rot **&** all. **)** He waits for a response regardless, what phantom limb resides betwixt his hollow sternum, vibrates as a warning. / please, dear hunter know this : I did not ask for this a carcass of fiend to walk the earth, what does breathing feel like _ **?** _what does warmth of hot iron flowing in those veins feel like ** _?_ /** Careful as he is, he handles glass in withered hands. a memo this worn, he doesn't want to cause further damage. whatever letters are written must be preserved. Levi's mouth holds no reserve, a stare of his apathy playing 'pon features. Should he answer ** _?_ ❛** A letter. **❜** _what the fuck else is it._ Levi knew better than to tempt fate in a chapel. words left muted as ashen eyes sink in the stained papers. Levi can only imagine what horrors his dear friend had. in loving memory of he , cross bearer **&** fort giver. those lethal incisors taking dove's wing , pyre from shoulders and spine. he didn't ask for a death so gruesome.   
  
  
read :  
  
Dear Levi,  
  
You said to warn you of any monsters lurking in the shadows. I fear this is it, I can hear their terror vibrating from the walls around me, right outside my window. I'd be lying if I said fear was not within me but it is. However, as per my duty as a Priest and our unspoken agreement between you hunters, I have collected this much information. Towns that have doctors within their confines are going to be the most exposed. They play as if they are one of us, did you know their blood is the same color? how odd is that. . . but I digress. They played us like fools Levi. I wasn't as unforgiving as you, though I wish I had been. It's not in me to turn away someone who is in need. Like vultures they came in circling us, and we lead them right to the sheep within our town. I don't know what I expected but the sound of skin being torn from bone was not something I ever thought I'd hear. It's sickening. I wonder, how do you sleep at night? I don't think these sounds will ever leave me. even in death I am afraid. However, whether this was intentional or not, they boasted their victory.   
Among them I heard them speaking of how the doctor they impaled wasn't even the man they looking for. I don't know who they wish to cause pain too but it's clear what their after. a doctor or someone within medicine. Should they succeed in ridding us of our other savior, I fear for humanity. We can defend ourselves against devils but disease is another. I know Petra will try her hardest, do not condemn her. She is young Levi and from what she has told me, I think I was right. She was too young for this. but then again, that isn't my call. As you say, try to make a choice that will leave you without the most regret. I don't regret my position as Priest, I wouldn't have met you otherwise. Another bit I found out : they are looking for not only a doctor but someone else. I don't know what the significates is but they said and I quote " Does it look like that bastard is also here? ", " why would he be here? didn't he die along with this stupid human loving father? " whatever this was, I don't know. I don't have much time left though. I am about to step into the fangs of the Devil himself. I hope Petra can get this letter to you. and if not, then I hope whoever comes across this, you find Levi. or if it's been years since, I hope we have survived a plague of vampires.  
God forgive me for my last words but Levi or anyone else reading this : Send those assholes right back into the black tar which they crawled out. - Farlan Church, Priest of the Noie Village.   
God, please have mer   
  
  
content lost to crimson stains, did the demon rip into the Priest before he could finish _ **?**_ Petra. . . He doesn't know that name either. A worth note to keepsake for later. Erwin can only assume it's a desperate clawing to have mercy. flesh devoured by decimation, population forged from beheading of innocent. **(** what words are left hanging in silence _ **?**_ other man of God, did you find redemption in the home of hollowed lungs ** _?_ ) ** Erwin sits in the catacombs of silence. Doctors _ **?**_ why doctors _ **?**_ ~~a cure for their purgatory,~~ no. there's **no cure** for harboring vile skin, for harboring oblivion sewn into their DNA. Cerulean holds ashen, what was left to say _ **?**_ a false apology for his lost but what for _ **?** _death was not new to them, it was a bouquet gifted to all. However, as a Priest, he deemed it necessary. an apology whispered barely audible. It was sincere being given by a priest but he knew it was still meaningless. No tears leave his husk but it seems none have trailed from Levi either. he hands back the letter, carefully folded in the creases that have been pre-made. re : in loving memory of a whole village lost , **i**. swallowed by the Devil whole / **ii.** did that feast sate their bellies _ **?** _**❛** Can you believe this shit _ **?**_ Bastards went and killed a whole town all for two people. **❜** vulgar tongue cuts as sharp as the silver lingering in Levi's eyes. Caution thrown to wind, to use such terms in a holy sanctuary : he should be punished. Erwin doesn't pay mind, his own sin far greater than a mere curse word slipping from Levi. vultures they were, maggots swarming a pile of shit **&** for what _ **?**_ to get a doctor _ **?**_ to get who else _ **?**_ back pressed against wood of the bench, the creaking seeming to match the one he felt in his bones. a funeral lost to flames **&** sticks. no time for remorse, no time to gather he, a broken child before, it is no time to build the walls he holds dear now back then. home to sewage, he knows who the other is. They were seeking **him**. But why _ **?**_ rejection doused in rosewater, he was forbidden to reenter a fallen empire. _all the better_ he thinks he doesn't wish to hear the crunch of bones under his feet anyways. **❛** Did they eat them _ **?**_ or was this just wasteful ** _?_ ❜ ** a poor choice in wording, wasteful. n. did they mean nothing _ **?**_  
they were just food, just meat clinging to bone. He hopes the other does not notice but Levi notices. **❛** Wasteful _ **?**_ and what exactly is _wasteful,_ father ** _?_ ❜ ** father. first names are far too personal, Erwin understands now. To speak his name, it would cause another heart string to attach. He wishes to tell Levi, it's fine. that heartstring would already be tethered to begin with. A quick renunciation, **❛** I mean to say, does it not seem odd _ **?** _if they didn't drink their fill, they merely killed for the sake of it. **❜** apathy changes in the blink of an eye, pupils dilated before Levi recovers. For the sake of damning humans _ **?**_ to mean to say this : they were sacrificed for not. killed just because they existed. a refusal to meet the harsh truth, it has to mean _something_ , anything. **❛** Their sacrifices showed their plan. They didn't die for nothing. But why would a priest consider their lives meaningless. For a priest, you don't seem as holy as the ones I have met. **❜** ah, he's just a silhouette of a pretender. puppeteer to his own strings, but something is snipping them. two hands longing for each other's throat, callous is the nature of this game. He can't give away his position nor can he play ignorant to the news going around. Levi asks the right questions and Erwin, he feels a spark. catch fire **&** be consumed by what he missed.  
 **❛** I am one that follows God, by rules and regulations of course but rest assured just because I am devote doesn't mean I will play ignorant to what's going on. Isn't it our roles to help one another _ **?**_ Though I have to ask, **Levi.❜** tasteful is his name, purred like a true hellion. How long since he has **indulged** in what gifts he was born with _ **?**_ besides the gifts of being a beast with a need to feel hot thick blood running down his throat. a slip of his tongue, seduction laced in those letters that form the hunter's name. **❛** If no attacks have been made here, what truly brings you here to this town ** _?_ ❜** a shift in posture, silence becomes them both. an innocent question, no doubt. There's too many heart strings attached to the answer. Apathy has always been Levi's home but this brings too much emotion. it falters on his stoic look before he stands. his time spent in this chapel was suffocating. **❛** this town has a doctor doesn't it. better to plan ahead before they show up. **❜** words still linger long after Levi had left the chapel. Erwin's mind turns, so many questions that plague him, no one to give him an answer. no one expect maybe _they_ , _they_ who crave knowledge that was forbidden. _they_ who didn't question his frontage : it was time to send Hange a letter.  



	5. Mukozuke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange introduction

sing songs of sorrow, here in the night is when they exist : **o sweet child of darkness** , here is where you exist in a womb made of blood. crater forged from nothing , constructed from larva swarming , say : leviathan crusaders, destructors of silken bone. cut open their sternums **&** fold crumbling bones of their rips around them. **(** i beg of you, is this the only way to sate a need for bloodlust ** _?_ )** In the darkness, they will met their creators, bathed in moonlight. their only saving grace. Vladimir, a curse written eons before mankind : where all his children can become he, vengeance wrought ** & ** no apologies for smothering them in liquid iron **&** copper. Left on their own, Hange use to feel that same **wrath**. a devil have no fury like their scorn that singed the earth. Hell couldn't compare to the scalpel that molded in a reckless youths hand. so long ago their hatred seems, blooming within a wilting husk. **(** i beg whomever : take whatever you'd like but I only ask for this, knowledge. **)** eye given to kin of Odin, a squelching sound of an organ leaving a socket. seething pain rippling from their left eye as blood vessels had been broken. a silent scream that left their hollow chest, too in shock to make a sound. charming as ever he was, sitting upon a throne built from human skin **& ** blood soaked with both species. a twisted grin playing 'pon lips that have tasted hides made from **rot & sweetness.** prey tell one who wishes to sink their teeth into philosophy : was the offering worth it _ **?**_ a warning laced with the deadly poison, **❛** Hange. I don't wish to end your life. **❜** a lie so _carefully_ told in a heated whisper as claws dug into their jawline, more of their own blood prickled from puncture wounds made from talons. **( i.** when did his mind become a vegetable. **ii.** when does **sadism** become someone's undoing **)** a knot tying in their stomach, bile rising upwards and lingering in their throat. They _refuse_ to show weakness in front of he who cursed them without hearts. a hot tongue runs up their stained cheek, lapping at their blood that has been spilled. It doesn't stop even as it approaches their under eye. Teeth clench as does their fists. Iron keeps hold of them, words are powerless. **❛** Don't you dare **you sick bastard,❜** words come from their throat instead of stomach acid but they say them just as harshly. A dark laughter that causes a sinking feeling to burrow inside them : he can do whatever he pleases right _ **?**_ he is a king of the dead. It's wet, slippery **&** painful.  
**❛** You taste foul. **❜** foul. . . is he not just as **distasteful** as they _ **?**_ Saliva mingles with their exposed wound, a hole in their brain and he devours it. Gorging out their eye wasn't enough, he tongues the cavity that was once home to eyesight : nothing was ever enough for a man built from greed. He laps at their mangled vessels, gashed flesh. It is all they can do to just **endure it**. Sucking sounds emit from Vladimir, he drinks his fill of their treachery before releasing them. an empty hole, a crater they now have embedded. exposed skull, exposed nerve : exposing they. **(** **i. . . exist for endings. )** Released from a talons, they are released from exposure, released from a sickening display they were forced to take. Never does he go into fucking them, but to tongue their wound and moan as he drank their soul _ **?**_ it might as well have been even more _intimate_ than having his dick inside them. **❛** Hange, let this be a warning my dear. You crave too much power, some secrets are best kept under wraps. Understand _ **?**_ Now leave me before **I** **decide to eat you whole.❜**   
  
  
Left eye given, their mind had been broken in fragments. exposed from the single hole that lays just under their leather eye patch. **(** o sweet god that answers them briefly : give me mouth to mouth. let me reap my rewards **)** escapism brought in the form of ink on parchment. It can only bring so much pleasure before they decide to run. Erwin did the same did he not _ **?**_ Even that one that dared to travel, dared to question their very genetics that made them only want to fill their bellies with blood. say : you can't forget it love. his tongue has left a disgusting touch on your skin / catalyst they are now. It's as if some days they can feel that hot **&** slippery organ playing with their matted broken blood vessels. **(** i beg of you, let this nightmare leave me **)** Even after all these years, after leaving behind a crumbling empire of crows that day has been seared into their subconscious. Oil light is soft against their skin, playing 'pon broken features as they remove their eyepatch and lay it on molded wood. Hange didn't care they now lived in a run down cabin, a hiding hole from the darkness of the world they were birthed into. pushed from a demons womb, how would they live different if they had warmth under their skin, if they had a beat residing in their ribcage _ **?**_ right eye diverts from dusty withered pages ** & ** they see a bird perched on their open window pane. Triggering is the ribbon laced with parchment : did the others find them finally _ **?**_ panic isn't what they feel. It's raw in their veins, it is venom coursing. A pure hatred seeping acidic from their pores. They are gentle in untying the string, this creature doesn't know any better. It lives in both the light and dark, **❛** I envy you. **❜** Fingers dance along untainted feathers. A wish to stay in this moment, where breathe seems fresher but it's not meant for them. they who have given so much to learn of humans. and they did learn : they learned a lot. But to experience being around them _ **?**_ never have they done so.  
  
read :  
  
Hange. I have met my end I believe in, what they say, biting the bullet. It's been far too long since I've indulged, since I have smelled this. I almost forgot who I was at the core. You were right as always. I can only write so much, let's have a drink sometime. Recite a prayer with me : Never will I underestimate, O praise be to he. Upon my sins do I suffer, this suffering is mine alone. Redemption will come sooner or later. I can only ask to be forgiven.  
  
No signature, there isn't need for one, they know all to well who wrote this. They crush the letter within their grip. flame engulfs their being, how could he be so careless. They warned him so long ago **( re:** do not forget what a demon you are, Erwin. Playing pretend can only go so far. **)** _tell me Erwin_ , they think as they sink into a chair and unfold the letter once more, _what human has caused you to give into such a damned nature **?**_ They lean, one hand holding their cheek, the other with fingers tapping against the wood of the desk. A curve of their brow forms. meet for drinks _ **?**_ Did he wish to dine with them _ **?**_ **❛** Whose going to be our pig ** _?_ ❜** an empty laugh, a smile gracing their lips doesn't exude happiness. **❛** Who did you think would get this letter _ **?**_ Always a cryptic. **❜** they grab a quill and begin writing on the bottom. A hidden message in a prayer, such mockery they both make of the man in the sky.  
  
Never : see, n. N. . . next word, O, together : NO.  
  
**❛** No _ **?**_ No. . . that's only a part of it. **❜  
  
** next word : Upon, letter, U. NOU  
  
**❛** Ah, a location then. **❜**  
  
next word : Redemption. NOUR, last letter I.  
  
**❛** Nouri. **❜** How had he managed to hide in such a place _ **?**_ From what they have uncovered, that was the birthplace of their demise. They stared, eye widening. **❛** Wait. Erwin. . . just who is the bullet. **❜** They have no time to waste, they know this. . . but how to hide in plain sight _ **?**_ They sit back, finger tapping on their chin. A merchant, **❛** I'll be damned if you think I'm going to be nun. **❜** They speak to empty air now, the bird had long gone, leaving no trail just like they did years ago. They stand, gathering items of value. Traveling merchant whose looking for a good time. Ah, they can't forget the most important thing : hands hold the eye patch, given to them by a dear friend who no longer was apart of them. Moblit.  
  
**❛** Hange, you can't be reckless all the time! **❜**   
**❛** Hange please, get some rest. **❜**  
  
**❛** HANGE _ **!**_ **❜** head rolling, voice cut with a sickening crunch of bone breaking, of skin tearing apart. the smell of oil **&** then   
  
they sigh, eye closing as they hear his tone. Such a close friend and even he was sacrificed for their own selfish greed. Hange pulled on the eye patch, gathering what little else belongings they had before stepping outside and setting fire to the cabin. It would burn to ashes that would be scattered in the wind. They ensured it wouldn't spread, wouldn't bite them back once they turned to leave. **❛** Now, which is Nouri. **❜** an inquiry to no one but the poorly drawn map from which they carried for years. **❛** Ah, so if I am here, then he must be that way. See you soon Erwin. **❜**  



	6. Potage

heartbeat flush , memories that lay beneath a steel cage crack. Levi couldn't afford to stay within such a close distant of the chapel. carefully crafted silhouette, forged in silver scythe, it is supposed to be unbreakable : no _he_ is supposed to be unbreakable. A distant cry, it is not real in the wind. It is vibrating against his skull. Sounds of skin on skin contact, it's loud and hollow at the same time. How many men buried themselves in his mother's womb _ **?**_ how many times did she cater to women, feeling how soft they were compared to her own withered skin _ **?**_ he wonders : did she ever enjoy such disgust _ **?**_ she ever feel anything _ **?**_ He shakes his head, of course she felt something. protection, a need to fill him with life, to keep him above the waters surface and not drown with her. _Mom, I made it home_. it's bittersweet on his frontal lobe, never do the words leave his throat. Why torture himself like this _ **?**_ he doesn't even know. Never has his mother's image plagued him so deeply. It spirals like vines wrapping around his brain tissue, like setting fire to his own insides for fun. To distract his heart from ever missing her : he buries his sorrow in an alternative. Boots scruff along dirt that didn't seem to change from when his bare feet use to make imprints in it. The smell is rancid in his nose, it crinkles. piss **&** a whore's house. smell of desperation to hide whatever wounds leak inside them. he isn't here to bury his dick in another, he was here to kiss the brim of a wooden cup and drown in liquid that kept his belly warm. Sitting at the bar, he holds his cheek his hand while the other holds the rim of the cup. This was new though. A brothel **&** tavern in one, they must be more desperate for survival more than he thought. it was a good way to make the town known though. Merchants of all kinds seemed to loom around him. He didn't have time to linger on unknown faces, he needed to think : he could just ask, it's a simple enough question. save him the trouble of digging, **❛** You're a looker ain't ya. **❜** he says nothing in return, feeling her slender arm loop around his own. This is too much : it's there at the brim. his mother's face, twisted in shame **& ** regret. a child too young who accidently witnessed her in her most ~~wicked state~~ as they called it. He didn't see anything or if he did, that image hadn't been branded in his mind. Hearing this stranger coo at him, feeling her fingers glide against his skin, tucking a strand of his black hair behind his ear. He didn't want to become like them, or maybe he didn't want to become _her_. A shift in posture, he doesn't shove her away but merely untangles his arm from her. to be forced to take whatever shit she had too to keep breathing : is it worth living a life like this _ **?**_ to be reduced to a beggar willing to take whatever dick in whatever place _ **?**_ maybe she didn't have a choice, after all this wasn't a rich town.  
No. . . maybe her flesh was given as means for survival. **❛** I'm ... **❜** _what?_ say : sorry for you having to give a pound of flesh without getting a pound back. He gets off the stool, watching her every move as she watches him. it's there, hidden right behind that pupil, it is a window to her sorrow, to her fear of possibly not getting whatever she needed. She was ready for this, was it common for her _ **?**_ **rejection**. **❛** take it. You've earned it. **❜** 1 pound. As a hunter of demons, he made a decent amount of income, always carrying with him a fair amount incase bribery was needed. or . . . did he do it for this _ **?**_ Growing in walls of a chapel, they'd all assume he was taken of. No such thing for even God abandoned them in his own home. She stares dumbfounded at the bag placed in her hands, he doesn't give her time to react, time to reject it. as he leaves the tavern he thinks : _they both have something in common. Rejection is far too bitter to swallow._ He travels a bit away from the inner part of their shabby village, tracks of his horse **&** him stopping in front of a cabin. The earth had taken it's toll on it. Ivy grows, broken glass of a window paint the ground on the outside, the door eaten away from weather and most likely termites. it hanged on the hinges, loose and worn. such a mirror image of he : coming back started to seem like a bad idea. _No. . . don't do that. don't regret this. You're here for a doctor and that's it._ a ploy to trick his mind as he lead his horse around back to a small stable. It was standing still but barely. I'll clean it up after I clean the house. he hesitates, fingers lingering on molded wood. what memories will replay once he opened this _ **?**_ What horrors will smile **&** open their jaws ready to eat him _ **?**_ a deep breathe, heaving through corrupted lungs **&** he pushes it open. Memories have no room in a mind that craves to clean every inch of this place, ~~every inch of him~~. As he scrubbed the floors, swept up dirt, dead skin **&** dead memories he thinks back to the blood stained parchment. A doctor. . . why doctors _ **?**_ it didn't make sense. His brow furrowed underneath sweat stained cloth. why a doctor _ **?**_ why he pauses in mid thought, a knocking ringing his ears. Did he imagine it _ **?**_ It wasn't a secret where he would be but who would seek him out _ **?**_ he opened the door, his face no longer showing any display of the emotions that raged war within : apathy took hold and kissed his skin. **❛** Didn't expect to see you here, what do you want _ **?**_ **❜  
  
** so vulgar is his tongue, Erwin thinks. so vulgar in between those lips that have tasted death. He supposed it was natural for Levi to already be this crass. they no longer were confine to holding up their pleasantries, they weren't sitting in the chapel after all. re : when did he lose his grip on his inner demon _ **?**_ so many smells wavier, it is tempting. but it's him that smells most tantalizing : what does death taste like mixed with silver _ **?**_ Erwin smiles a bit, it's charming but it's seductive. **❛** I was merely checking in with you. I do so with everyone, to keep the peace you could say. **❜** He remains in the door way, an old curse that they had yet to evolve from. He can't go inside this man's house without being invited. Levi didn't seem interested in keeping company though, he stayed at the door way as well, gazing at him with those piercing eyes. Erwin's eyes shifted to the mess behind Levi, he must have been trying to refurbish this place. He was about to offer for him to stay at the church in the spare room but given how Levi reacted during their earlier conversation he thought better of it. **❛** Would you like some help cleaning up _ **?** _You must be tired after having such a day. **❜** is he laying it on too thickly _ **?**_ Erwin might need to tone down his generosity. Though he wouldn't be suspected for merely offering to help, he wasn't sure how hunter's mind worked : wasn't sure what lay beneath that exterior of apathy that played on Levi's features. Anything could be seen as a threat for ones who sought the Devil. Right now, it seemed like a stand off. Predator vs prey : no he wasn't prey. was he not also a predator _ **?**_ his fangs may be non-existent but they were built from silver and in guns. Levi is quiet, side glancing back at the mess he had left. Cleaning was escapism. mask what dirtiness lay beneath his skin that he couldn't scrub from bone morrow. a plea in silent : **invite me** / say : i will play with the Devil who wears a cross on his chest. It was his turn to observe the hunter. Those slender eyebrows that always seemed in a tight knit, what thoughts hold you hostage dear hunter _ **?**_ he wished to trace that jawline that was held in ivory skin. so soft. . . his own eyes narrow briefly. _Soft._ . . so easy to rip apart and spill that beautiful blood. **(** please. invite me so I can eat you whole. **)** he swallows, suddenly wondering if he should have sated his belly before coming here. Levi looked back at him, stepping aside, **❛** Yeah sure, take your shoes off before you come in so you don't track anymore shit in this place. it's already full of it enough. **❜** a devilish smirk, it can only belong to a hellion as Levi turned away and went inside. Sudden coldness filled him as he removed his shoes and placed them by the door right next to Levis'. When did he become this : a simple hungry starved wolf _ **?**_ his puppet strings seemed to be collapsing before him, he couldn't break it yet. A small thanks was passed as he tied the handkerchief across his lower face, covering his nose **&** mouth just as Levi had his. It's the silence that eats at him as they both work on clearing out the dingy cabin. He glances over, watching the other  
  
_tell me Levi. What's going on in that beautiful mind of yours?_ I want to get inside it, I want   
  
**❛** Hey, what are you staring at? **❜** _answer him **!** _ a phantom pulse beats too quickly in Erwin's ears : answer him. he'll found out what horrors you hold within your blackened soul. He blinks, a small laugh leaving his lips from behind the cloth. **❛** I was just admiring the way you seem to take care of cleaning the place. **❜** a thin brow raises in question as Levi stares at him. Sweat seems to build along his nape, his animalistic trait begging him : fight or flight. Under this silver eye, he feels exposed as if Levi can see right through him. But to his relief, Levi merely deadpans **❛** You've never cleaned or what _ **?**_ I guess you and the other Priests got something in common. **❜** he pauses as he crouches down, finally picking up the glass shards from under the broken window, **❛** You're all creeps. **❜** Erwin watched him, not even thinking of what could happen. Levi has handled countless tools, glass shouldn't have done this but it seemed God was finally fed up with him. It smelled. . . like copper, like metal. It burned every fiber on his skin inside **&** out. Slowly, he watched it drip down pale kissed skin and suddenly, it was blooming. Blood spilled down slowly, it wasn't a deep cut but it sliced through that delicate skin like nothing. A demon in a saint : prey tell beast, what weakness do you fear the most _ **?**_ **(** say, i. to build this persona, learn self control. ii. never leave with an empty belly **).** white teeth peaked under a raised lip, how he wanted to bite Levi. sink his teeth into that junction of his shoulder and neck, rip open that chest and bury himself inside that the organ of his heart. He blinks, stepping back a bit even though Levi was nearly across the room. He watched Levi waiting for him to make a move of any kind as blood start to prickle and ooze from the cut along his palm. a simple _fuck_ left Levi's lips **&** Erwin swallowed.   
This is new : it's no longer a need to feed on him. **He wanted to devour him** slowly, rip him apart limb from limb, suck him dry from every vessel within his body. He wanted to crater himself in Levi : this was his downfall. he has heard of the obsession vampires can get never did he think it'd happen to him and never with a hunter, **❛** That glass was dirty right _ **?** _You should go see Dr. Jaeger. Infections can turn up in the most unexpected ways after all. **❜** He offered a smile under the cloth covering his face, thankful for it as it helped the fangs that poked through his gums. Reckless youth he had been, thinking : no way he'd ever run into trouble dressed as Priest. He couldn't see this far into the future but no one could have. Perfect start to the finish line ; finish line being Levi. Who would end this first _ **?** _a bullet in his chest **&** his head rolling or Levi, with blood splattering on that soft skin _ **?**_ Levi rolled his eyes, tugging down his cloth. **❛** It's fine, it's not that big of a deal. I'll go wash it out, who knew Priests were so weak in the stomach. **❜** His crass nature never ceased, whatever fire burned in this hunter, it was unstoppable **&** ready to burn anything, everything in it's path. Erwin stayed in his spot, wishing Levi wasn't stubborn. When was the last time he was this close to such sweet smelling bliss _ **?**_ such a sweet fruit, similar to the apple on the tree **(** say ever : i lost it all. weak **&** fragile **)** , nothing but a mongrel looking for scraps. _Levi. . ._ Erwin stiffened as Levi passed him, that smell so alluring. It beckoned to him : **taste me and perish**. Erwin had to leave, he needed to leave before Levi became his undoing. He didn't wish to harm a human for the sake of feeding a beast. Once he heard water running and the smell of something rancid he fled. No goodbye, no usual God bless and goodnight **❛** Hey _ **!**_ Do you see a small box out there _ **?**_ **❜** Silence answered, causing Levi to leave the bathroom and come back around the corner. He stared at the broom leaning on the wall by the door then looked over at the neatly folded handkerchief. _I guess he's weaker than he looks._ He looked over at the glass and rose a brow. All of it had been picked up and wasn't anywhere to be seen. Tomorrow morning, Levi would have to thank him. Priest or not, he didn't have to stay and help him pick up pieces of damaged hunter. 

Cool air pressed itself on Erwin's face, touching the sweat against his brow and cooling him. He left his window cracked open and had the lights shut off. Moonlight gleamed into the room, reflecting off the corner of the mirror. Sat here on the edge of the bed, staring at his hands he felt . . . fear _ **?** _His brow furrowed. No. . . it was something else. A _longing_ he hadn't felt since Marie. . . Sweet Marie, too kind for her own good. She smelled nice, like somewhere he'd never be able to reach. He didn't clip those wings of her but foolishly he let another. He let someone else rip into that silken skin **&** gorge on wine. Erwin put his face in his hands and breathed deep, the smell of Levi's place lingering in the creases of his skin. How he wished life was different, if he was normal with rose tinted skin, with warmth built in his ribs : could he stay around Levi _ **?**_ without wanting to eat him mind body **&** soul _ **?**_ Erwin sighed once more, running a hand through his hair before downing another vile of red thick liquid. He kept a supply hidden in his room, eating when he was revealed only by the moon herself. He wondered what Levi really tasted like, did he taste like honeysuckles _ **?**_ did he taste like a rare wine that only the rich would afford _ **?**_ He set the little vile back in the hidden spot and then lay back in bed, staring out at the window. _Hange, if you got my letter I should have told you_ , he thinks, _I may have been dismissive of my own nature_. 


	7. Futamono

abandoned altar / pale kissed skin **&** scorned cortex. say in voiceless : don’t leave me _ **!**_ , i am only breathing barely _ **!**_ say ever : a child youth lost in divinity. wailing of infancy, **(** i beg of you, please do not leave **)** heartbeat erratic underneath bone marrow, sweat dews ooze from fear soaked skin. he became a molten silver on the sunrise, a mind troubled by horrendous childhood. reckless and wild youth, scorned left rubble in his path. **(** teach me to coagulate **&** hold fast divine rimosity **)** heaving through corrupted lungs, he stares at rotten wood, breathing seeped into lungs. his mind drifting apart like two ice sculptures , wordless in an ashen mouth : **(** save me from burning. **)** fingers run through damp hair strands and he sits up. a winter storm brewing in a hollow chest, returning home to where he crawled from a womb. a mistake? a broken fragile spine, a fragmented memory lay waste. what was buried deep is surfacing again **&** it’s building acid in him. now he is scrambling for sanctum, irony plays mockery in wanting him to find it within four walls. He doesn’t wish to stay long in this town that threatens to bury him alive. savior in sunlight drowning shadows, his body feels far too heavy , weighed down by emotions clinging to bone marrow. a husk of what made him steel , he needs to remind himself : he is only here for the doctor. Morning brings a new day, life slowly spilling into the town around him. He plays it safe, only going to small tents within the markets but the bell that rings vibrates inside him. say in silence , it beckons him back inside. say / come back to the cold stone womb & wither just as she did. **(** i cannot be contained anymore **)** he has to face that Priest again. blood had oozed through the white bandage on his hand , a careless mistake on his end. weak stomach that the priest had but he was no better. a chapel made haunted house, moans and screams seemed to be etched within stone. woken up like an animal , teeth bared for impaling his mind as he returned to stained glass and concrete walls. He had waited ‘til the pew was bodiless, only remaining he and the priest who stood at the podium. they stare, a mutual silence between them and he feels regret sinking inside his belly. He had brought a loaf of bread with him : a means to break bread and a silence thanks from him. Levi moved first sitting on the same bench and moving over. another silent gesture for Erwin to join him.

_**I** ** _s_ it a good idea to be this close?**_   
  
Erwin thought as he found himself sitting on the edge of the bench next to the hunter. sweet honey **&** leather, temptation laced in every cell of his skin. say ever : **feed me** , creature in his bloodstream chewing on his gut. feed me the blood pulsing in a bullets vein , dine on soft skin, break apart bone and burrow right at the chest cavity. say in sin : _i_ want to taste you on a rotten tongue. He can’t be this close, this is becoming dangerous. He feels a beast pecking at scraps, wishing to taste that iron that caked under Levi’s bandage. What does a hunter of his kin taste like _ **?**_ palsied starlight **&** the scorned roof of my mouth, the same one that brandished the devil himself . **(** i beg of you, see through this façade held onto for years **)** the emblem of disgrace as he sits next to Levi. **❛** I didn’t expect you to show up here again. **❜** visible discomfort play ‘pon soft skin of the other. He recalled how Levi suddenly seemed to have changed his mind of staying in this chapel. did he not like it _ **?** _did he feel trapped in these walls _ **?** _blue hues shift and gaze quickly at blood blooming before he averts it again. temptation runs rampant , he is suddenly Eve in the garden baited by the snake. **❛** Thanks for cleaning up the glass for me. **❜** no, he wants to say, **it was not for you. it was for me!** it was to keep this mask from cracking _ **!**_ he swallows, sitting back against the wood and offers a plastic smile. false warmth laced into wrinkles , **❛** you don’t need to thank me, I probably didn’t clean it up well enough for your standards. **❜** there it is again, the beast lurking so close oozing from him. play cat and mouse with him, toy and tease until one of them breaks. Who will consume the other first? Erwin looks down at the half loaf Levi had torn. a peace offering , how humane. it’s selfish he wants to say , give me more. break that organ in your rib cage and let me feast on it— feast on you. say in whispers i am the monster under your bed Levi. He takes the bread, inhaling the fresh smell of yeast, **❛** did you just buy this to share _ **?**_ **❜** a hint of a tease, say on his knees : **(** let me toy with you. I have tasted silver but not one that’s polished. **)** He has tasted tarnish silver and iron, Levi was neither of those, **❛** It was just a way to say thanks. But why did you run off so quickly _ **?**_ **❜** a question charged with **acid,** it’s simple unlike his answer. hesitate and he may find himself on the ground. to bide himself time, Erwin ate his half slowly. savoring what fresh flavors toyed on his tongue but it didn’t sate the heat in his belly, **❛** I went to go throw the glass out and wasn’t sure you’d still be up for cleaning and i didn’t want to overstay. **❜** is it good enough _ **?** _he doesn’t add any more details as he stuffs his mouth again with bread. 

seeking retribution in holes within these four walls, crass nature slipped from Levi’s mouth as he spoke with Erwin. He isn’t one to beat around the bush and props the question : why did he run _ **?**_ prey tell the holy one : what horrors are wrapped within the confines of confession _ **?**_ What sins spill forth and say please forgive me father for I have sinned _ **?**_ Are those confessions worse than a little blood spill _ **?**_ ** ❛  ** Bold of you to make presumptions about me. ** ❜ ** Silver meets blue, a color collision as they both stare at one another. Silence is a friend to him but Erwin _ **?**_ he doesn’t know. Something paws deep within his soul, an itch that holds under his skin. Fight or flight? pick one _ **!**_ it begs : **you’re in danger** it warns. Danger in a chapel? How ironic and laughable! The safest home is also a tomb but for who? His brow creased, gaze holding. Something lurks under that careful smile, false warmth doesn’t show itself instead staying masked. Levi hums in response, ripping a piece of bread from the piece he had.  ** ❛  ** Come with me to Dr. Jaegers. ** ❜ ** Not a question, it was an order hidden in courtesy’s . Politeness would have been too easy to refuse but he left Erwin no room to decline. Erwin gave him a subtle _why_ but it’s not a direct no. Levi stood, stretching upwards before going over to the wooden doors,  ** ❛  ** You’re involved now. He’s one of the best doctors and rest assured when those blood suckers come running, they don't care who you are. You’re nothing but meat to them. ** ❜ ** vulgar doesn’t do this hunter justice , even as he speaks his tone sounds solid. Erwin was now the one to hum in response before getting up. How can he show this other they are not all that different ** _?_ (** teach me to be human , teach me to coagulate , teach me about what secrets are kept within your rib cages; i tire of being the _monster,_ i tire of being a goliath **)** are they not all destined to die anyways _ **?** _Are they not just animals themselves _ **?** _sent for slaughter, their blood spill was a sin greater than a doe bleeding out. he has seen sinners , he has heard their pleas for redemption but why not one of grief _ **?**_ Sunlight blossomed outside, burning into the earth **&** kissing bare skin. If he were to leave now, he’d perish ,  ** ❛ ** I ’d love to accompany you. I understand me being there might ease the good doctor but I do have more services to attend to. ** ❜ ** He offered an apologetic smile, his phantom heart beating against his chest,  ** ❛  ** Services end at dusk surely we can go then _ **?**_ ** ❜ ** A man made devil who was usually calm is **scrambling**. Any means to keep himself from burning. He waits for an answer staying in his place. Two fiends engaging in battle who will win _ **?**_ He can almost hear the others pulse in his open wound. say now : _let me taste you. let me eat you from the hollow of your throat_ / say ever — **i exist only to devour**. dear hunter, what would you do if i perished in the sunlight before your eyes _ **?**_ cursed from the womb, sinning is all this Priest knows. Finally, Levi agrees and he heads out. At dusk it’s decided : they will begin their dance of death.


End file.
